Good morning, my name is Lesley, I like to think of myself
as Mrs. Captain, General Manager in charge of guest relations, food and
beverage but in reality I am chief cook and bottle washer, commonly know as
mom.
Jess has decided (with some suggestion from Uncle David)
that someone else should take a shot at writing the blog, to bring someone
else’s perspective to our lives.
Jess is still the reigning queen of waterfall jumps as she
has jumped from the highest distance namely 13 meters at Annandale waterfall in
Grenada. Jess has earned Josh’s respect for this but insisted that he would
jump it twice to show that he can beat his sister, fortunately for him we did
not go back and left from Grenada for Sandy Island, Carriacou. I can say all
this without fear of reprisal from Josh, as he doesn’t actually read our blog.
We had a lovely day motoring as unfortunately the wind was
still coming directly onto the nose, so no sailing was possible. Everyone was
hopeful that fish would be on the menu for supper but alas only one lonely
barracuda was caught. Our latest rookie sailor Alex got to do the honors of
reeling in her first fish. Josh kindly helped and gave Alex the line to hold up
to show her fish off for the mandatory photo. The barracuda naturally
disapproved and proceeded to give a big wiggle dangling from the line, Alex got
such a fright that she waved the fishing rod around and gave Josh a great big
thump on his head, we all of course thought it was very funny.
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| Alex's first fish |
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| Alex and Josh |
We picked up a buoy and were all tied up after dark at Sandy
Island. Great fun was had with
Josh catching a Garfish by hand off the back of the boat. We were all up rather
early and got ready to swim and dingy ride over to Sandy Island. The girls were
all in the water but saw some little jelly fish so no swimming to the beach was
happening. Josh caught a jellyfish
in a cup to prove to dad that they weren’t imagining things. A lazy hour or so
was spent on the island floating in the little inland pool. Some spa treatment
for sailor’s feet was undertaken with pink sea sand and pieces of coral. Some
more snorkeling was undertaken at the edge of the natural coral wall that was
created by hurricane Lenny.
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| All the girls on Sandy Island |
Ian and I went to a local little beach bar called Off the
Hook for drinks and to check out the spot as we were going there for supper for
a beach braai. Curtis the owner and his lovely girlfriend Lesley made us most
welcome. We met a lovely German couple who were off the cruise ship, they were
doing a 62 day cruise from where the ship left from Hamburg and all the way
back. Another American couple Debbie and Bob have been cruising for just over
four years and are very friendly with the locals and were involved in helping
the sailing club refurbish their little wooden boats. A very entertaining
afternoon was had. Supper on the beach of fresh rainbow runner and chicken was
a huge and tasty success.
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| Jangles |
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| beach dinner |
Rain called a halt to our planned tour of Carricaou so mid
morning we decided to check out at Customs. Needless to say we got the timing
wrong and they were closed for lunch. Josh, Alex, Ian and myself caught a local
bus (we know them as taxis) to Tyrell bay for lunch and to see if our friends
Sylvie and Peter from the boat Jambalaya were back from the UK.
Very unsuccessful trip, restaurant was
closed and couldn’t find Jambalaya. The bus trip back was very entertaining as
we dropped off lunch for someone, picked up someone’s shopping, dropped of
diesel canisters at the petrol station, dropped off money and stopped at the
local fish market and picked up some smelly fish in a blue bucket that was put
under our seat. We did see an old man in an Aussie tee shirt. Everything in
town seems to happen on the bus.
Checked out and headed off to Petite Martinique to get some
fuel as Grenada were out of diesel. We had to hang around the fuel dock for
about half an hour as the captain was shopping for beers (apparently the best
place to buy wine and beers). Our docking against the fuel dock proved to be a
very scary experience one that we will not repeat. The swell constantly kept pushing
us up against the dock and we had all the fenders alongside to ensure no damage
was done. Jess and I were on the dock trying to push Jangles away each time she
was rammed up against the dock. After 30 gallons of fuel Ian decided that it
was enough and we beat a hasty retreat for Petite St Vincent.
This has to be one of our favorite spots in the lower end of
the Caribbean. It is a privately owned little island and luckily for us it had
just reopened after closing for the hurricane season. As we smoothly motored in
to drop anchor Alex was treated to her first sighting of naked French people
showering off the back of their boat. This is a fairly common occurrence; which
has to be seen to be believed. Josh and Jess took a fairly long swim to one of
the buoys to mark the start of Jess training for Midmar Mile Dam swim in
February next year (in South Africa). Josh sprinted the last ten meters to the
boat and had a cramp for the rest of the day. Drinks and starters were had at
the Goat Shed beach bar and dinner was had sitting at the wonderful beach restaurant.
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| Swimming in Petite St. Vincent |
After an early morning swim and snorkel we pulled up anchor
and headed for Union Island to go and check into the St Vincent group of Islands.
A very exciting anchoring exercise
was had as we managed to drop the anchor just in front of some coral and it
dragged back into the coral breaking off a massive boulder size of coral that
weighted the anchor down. With a
lot of backwards and forwards maneuvering of the boat and with Josh in the
water tugging and pulling he managed to dislodge the coral and we were able to
drop anchor and head to town. Most of the little shops in town were still
closed as the cruising season is just starting up again. Got some lovely fresh baguettes and
fresh veggies and fruit, hoped to show Alex the avos the size of rugby balls we
had been telling her about but alas not to be found. We used the same guy to
taxi us to and from shore that sold us some very dodge diesel the last time we
were in Union Island, resulting in us having to flush the diesel tanks and
buying some very fancy liquid that eats the bacteria and oil out of diesel. Ian
is very impressed by this stuff and by the professional approach of the company
(in Trinidad) that sorted our problem out. We unfortunately did not get any
discount on water taxi fees to shore.
We took a leisurely afternoon motor to Tobago Cays. This has
to be one of the most beautiful little groups of islands in the world. It is a
marine park so no fishing or diving is allowed. Great fun was had after dinner
hand fishing off the back of the boat. Josh rigged up this hand line as there
were tons of fish at the back of the boat. They managed to catch and release 11
Slender Mojarra’s before they decided to call it quits for the night.
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| Tobago Cays sunset |
We moved
to a different spot the next morning and then the fun began, loads of
snorkeling with turtles, rays, trunk fish, trumpet fish, cow fish, squid,
lobsters, eels and giant sea stars to name a few. Alex used a stinger swimsuit,
as she wasn’t convinced that all the jellyfish in the water are harmless. There
are extraordinary amounts of little clear jellyfish in the water thankfully
without stings. Rebecca loves to hold them in her hands, as they are soft and
squishy. This is the first time
that we have seen so many jellyfish in this area so we assume it has something
to do with the change of currents do to the different seasons. There were a few
trunkfish that seemed to like a spot under our boat and they come really close
for a good look at you. Alex and Josh found it rather freaky.
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| Trunk fish |
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| Green turtle |
After a short
afternoon siesta we moved back around to where we had anchored the night before
to partake in a late afternoon lobster beach barbeque provided by Romeo. We got
to see the stingrays up close as they were surfing into the beach to eat the
innards of the crayfish and fish that were being cleaned for dinner. A really
good question was asked to which none of us knew the answer, does a stingrays
spiky tail grow back if it shoots it out for some reason, if anyone knows the
answer we would love for you to share it with us, otherwise its off to trusty Google
we go!! What a feast we had. The evening finished off with a wonderful cup of
Ian’s coffee (yup no surprises there, we do have a coffee machine on board)
sitting on the emergency life raft at the back of the boat looking up at
myriads of stars, the milky way and the odd shooting star, how easy is it to
just let the world go by.
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| Lobster beach braai |
Our last day at Tobago Cays was spent pretty much the same
way except for a moment of great hilarity when Josh and Alex on their first
morning snorkel saw a large barracuda
(over a meter in length) swimming towards them, they almost walked the
water to get back to the boat and climbed up without even using the stairs, we
think Josh headed back in front of Alex. They were both horrified when Ian and
I both jumped in straight away, in our pj’s to go and get a closer look and a
few photos.
After a leisurely two - hour sail, yup the Genoa was up; we
arrived in the pretty Salt Whistle Bay in Mayreaux. Ian decided to stay on the boat and polish the stainless
steel, the rest of Jangles crew took the “fifteen minute walk into town” to go
and explore and get some lunch. What the locals failed to mention is that the
walk is solidly uphill the whole way.
Much wheezing later, mostly
by me, we made it to the top, to a view of the whole of the Tobago Cay’s and the
St Vincent’s that took your breath away. The village has this beautiful old
stone church where we were able to spend some quiet minutes reflecting on and
giving thanks for all the wonders we see and the privilege’s we have in our
lives, especially the miracle of Dylan’s successful operation.
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| Mayreau Catholic church |
We found Denis’s hideaway restaurant and had a wonderful
local lunch. Rebecca was so happy there was a pool and even more so when they
said she could have a dip. There are only three hundred people that live on
Mayreaux, with no bank and a ferry trip if they wish to shop for more than just
the most basic of necessities, imagine a life that uncluttered.
A quick afternoon dash saw us arrive at Canouan, which means
“land of the turtle”. Afternoon drinks were had at the resort on the island
called Tamarind as well as a little inter-net time for the desperate few. Most
importantly we had to investigate the resort for we are in need of a special
dinner for tomorrow the 6
th of November, we have a birthday, Happy
Happy birthday dearest Alex. We pray for a truly special day for you and for
all of heaven’s treasures and God blessing and favor for your life. We are so
glad to be able to share this day with you…….
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| Harmless jellyfish |
